Press & broadcasting / Film & TV
Brace Beemer
1902–1965 · radio actor and announcer
WXYZ announcer and the best-known radio voice of the Lone Ranger (1941–1954), who lived on a horse ranch in Oakland County and is buried in Troy.
- Born
Mount Carmel, Illinois- Died
Oxford Township, Michigan
aged 62- Birth name
- Brace Bell Beemer
- Detroit years
- 1930s–1965
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Beemer grew up in Illinois and Indiana, lied about his age to fight in France in 1918, and found his way into Detroit radio at WXYZ, where his deep voice made him the station's star announcer and the narrator of The Lone Ranger in its early years. After Earle Graser was killed in 1941, Beemer took over the title role on April 18, 1941, and kept it until the last new broadcast in September 1954, bound by contract to play no other radio part. Tall, a skilled rider and a good shot, he had long been the Ranger the public actually saw, making appearances in costume while Graser stayed anonymous. He also played Sergeant Preston on Challenge of the Yukon. Beemer raised horses on Paint Creek Acres, his ranch in Oxford Township, where he died of a heart attack in 1965, the day after his last television interview on Bill Kennedy's show. He is buried at White Chapel in Troy.
Highlights
- Radio voice of the Lone Ranger from April 18, 1941, to September 3, 1954
- Earlier the narrator and live stand-in for the Ranger at public appearances
- Played Sergeant Preston on WXYZ's Challenge of the Yukon
- Raised horses on Paint Creek Acres, his ranch in Oxford Township
- Clayton Moore imitated Beemer's delivery in the first Lone Ranger TV episodes
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 3
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Performed here · 1930s–1954
Maccabees Building (former WXYZ studios)
WXYZ's studios, where Beemer announced and performed The Lone Ranger live, three times a night for different time zones.
Lived here · 1940s–1965
Paint Creek Acres (former Beemer ranch)
Status being checked
His 300-acre horse ranch; the barn where his white stallion Silver was stabled is reported to still stand. Private property.
Buried here · 1965
White Chapel Memorial Park Cemetery
Beemer's grave is in this Troy memorial park, Michigan's first cemetery of the flat-plaque memorial-park type.